CVE-2025-39413 Overview
CVE-2025-39413 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the David Gwyer Simple Sitemap – Create a Responsive HTML Sitemap WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of simple-sitemap up to and including 3.6.0. The plugin fails to enforce proper capability checks on sensitive operations, allowing authenticated users with low privileges to perform actions reserved for administrators. Attackers exploiting this issue can compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected WordPress sites over the network with low complexity and no user interaction.
Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with low-level WordPress accounts can bypass authorization checks in the Simple Sitemap plugin, leading to broken access control with high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Affected Products
- WordPress Simple Sitemap – Create a Responsive HTML Sitemap plugin by David Gwyer (wpgoplugins)
- All plugin versions from n/a through 3.6.0
- WordPress sites running the free distribution of simple-sitemap
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-04-30 - CVE-2025-39413 published to NVD
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-39413
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the Simple Sitemap plugin. The plugin exposes one or more functions that perform privileged operations without verifying the caller's WordPress capabilities. An authenticated user with low privileges, such as Subscriber or Contributor, can invoke these endpoints over the network and trigger actions intended only for administrators.
Because the attack vector is the network and complexity is low, exploitation requires only a valid WordPress account and standard HTTP requests. No user interaction is needed. The plugin operates inside the WordPress execution context, so a successful exploit inherits WordPress's filesystem and database access, enabling configuration tampering and content modification.
The issue is categorized under CWE-862: Missing Authorization. According to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report, the underlying weakness is broken access control affecting plugin actions.
Root Cause
The plugin's request handlers do not call current_user_can() with an appropriate capability before executing privileged code paths. Nonce checks alone, if present, only validate request origin and do not establish authorization. The absence of capability enforcement allows any authenticated session to reach the protected code.
Attack Vector
An attacker registers or compromises a low-privileged WordPress account. The attacker then issues HTTP requests directly to the plugin's vulnerable endpoint or AJAX action. The server processes the request as if it originated from an administrator and executes the privileged operation. Refer to the Patchstack advisory for protocol-level details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-39413
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to WordPress options, plugin settings, or sitemap configuration entries in wp_options.
- HTTP POST requests from low-privileged authenticated users to admin-ajax.php or plugin REST routes referencing simple-sitemap actions.
- New or altered administrative content shortly after requests from Subscriber or Contributor accounts.
Detection Strategies
- Audit WordPress access logs for authenticated requests to Simple Sitemap endpoints originating from non-administrator accounts.
- Compare installed plugin version against 3.6.0 and flag any host running an affected build.
- Correlate plugin configuration changes with the user role of the requesting session to surface privilege mismatches.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward WordPress and web server logs to a centralized log platform and alert on admin-ajax.php calls from low-privilege users.
- Enable WordPress audit logging plugins to record option, plugin, and settings changes with the acting user identity.
- Monitor for creation of new administrator users or role escalations following access to plugin endpoints.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-39413
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the Simple Sitemap plugin to a version newer than 3.6.0 once the vendor releases a fix; verify the version in wp-admin under Plugins.
- Restrict user registration and review existing Subscriber and Contributor accounts for unfamiliar entries.
- Rotate WordPress administrator credentials and review the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables for unauthorized role changes.
Patch Information
At the time of the latest NVD update, the advisory lists affected versions up to and including 3.6.0. Administrators should consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the plugin page on WordPress.org for the latest fixed release and apply it immediately.
Workarounds
- Deactivate and remove the Simple Sitemap plugin until a patched version is installed.
- Block access to plugin AJAX actions and REST routes at the web application firewall (WAF) layer for non-administrator sessions.
- Disable open user registration in WordPress settings to reduce the pool of accounts that can reach the vulnerable code path.
# Disable the Simple Sitemap plugin via WP-CLI until a patch is applied
wp plugin deactivate simple-sitemap
wp plugin status simple-sitemap
# Verify installed version against the affected range (<= 3.6.0)
wp plugin get simple-sitemap --field=version
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
